Snowflake
by Peenut2k7
Summary: Rudy, known in his youth as "Palescale", grows from an intrepid young pest to the weasel-hunting menace we know today. Rated T for occasional dinosaur violence, not much more intense than an average nature documentary. Very little dialogue. Light Buck/Rudy and Sid/Momma planned for future chapters. Collision Course not treated as canon.
1. Dawn of the Spinosaur

_**Ice Age**_ **(c) Blue Sky**

11,000 years ago, underneath the towering conifer forests, vast plains, and frozen steppes of the surface of western North America, there was a tropical wonderland; a paradise the size of modern day Rhode Island nestled under the hustle and bustle of the Pleistocene world. In this land lived creatures that had not seen the light of day in 66 million years; non-avian dinosaurs, sharing the world with their cousins, the pterosaurs, and unrelated mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, alongside other primordial beasts from long before the age of the mammoths and tigers that walked the Earth above "dinosaur world". The animals in this world were very different from their pre-Chicxulub ancestors, with the descendants of creatures such as _T. rex_ and _Troodon_ having completely lost the feathery coverings sported by their Mesozoic counterparts due to a mix of inbreeding and the hot, rather wet underground climate. Other creatures, such as the _Baryonyx_ and _Diplodocus_ , had grown to monstrous proportions; some individuals of the former creature approaching the sizes of sauropods in length and weight, and those of the latter often reaching Godzilla sizes.

In a nest on the cusp of the dinosaur world, a clutch of three _Baryonyx_ eggs were beginning to crack open, readying themselves to enter the wide open cavern that their mother called "home". The white snout of one of the infant spinosaurids poked through the shell of its egg prison. The baby let out a chirp, trying to signal to its parent that it was ready to come out and it wanted to be fed. The eggshell cracked further, as the rest of the _Baryonyx_ babies slowly made their way out of their eggs.

By the time the first baby had hatched, the mother dinosaur had made her way to the nest to witness her children coming into the world; the initial hatchling bore grey scales, yellow eyes, and a white crescent marking on his chest; "Moon". The second dinosaur to leave its egg bore darker grey scales, and a yellow underbelly; resembling an american alligator. She had yellow eyes, like her older brother, and had defined stripes running along the length of her body; "Darkscale". The third dinosaur looked little like his siblings; he had white scales with a yellow tint, red eyes, and had no markings; "Palescale". Both of his parents were shades of dark grey (though his mother a significantly lighter shade), with his nomadic father having green eyes and his nurturing mother having yellow.

Despite his strange appearance, Palescale was treated the same as both of his siblings, though he was much more sensitive to the sun that peered through the icy ceiling than his two partners, and he had poorer vision. He was much greedier than his two subordinates, however, which lead to him being the largest and most dominant of the group of three _Baryonyx_ younglings.

About three months after their hatchings, Palescale was, as per usual, sitting atop the mound of dirt that he and his siblings used as shelter from the elements, vocalizing in hopes of attracting his parent, preferably with food in jaw. His mother, "Mother", came back to the nest, carrying the scarred corpse of a _Kentrosaurus_. Placing the stegosaur carcass next to the mound, she regurgitated a floppy hunk of meat she had been saving for her chicks. The children bounded towards their dinner, with Palescale quickly devouring most of the food, leaving his two siblings with little to eat. Mother, in the meantime, ate the kentrosaur as it was, having aged beyond the need to eat half-digested slop. The albino "duckling", after eating what he could manage with his siblings eating some of what he intended to down, tested the waters on the gargantuan lump of rough, orange leather, gnawing at what his mother had left intact in her assault on what could still be interpreted as what was once a living being.

It may have been the fact that he was incapable of piercing the skin to get to the meaty concoction underneath, but something told him that he liked mommy's meat globs better.


	2. Learning to Hunt

**Note: This chapter has a bit of violence and semi-detailed descriptions of predatory animals eating fallen prey, so you might want to skip this one if you are squeamish.**

 **Note 2: The names given to the dinosaurs, besides names like "Rudy" and "Momma" that will be used in future chapters, are not proper names, and are instead "codenames" given to the dinosaurs to make up for their lack of a comprehensible language.**

 _ **Ice Age**_ © **Blue Sky**

Palescale hated the sun.

In his fourth month of life, the albino _Baryonyx_ nestled himself in the shade, lazing on his belly under the fronds of an archaic tree-fern. The light of the Earth's mother star shined through the icy ceiling of Dinosaur World, spreading life to those who were caught in its rays; and, in the case of Palescale, painful irritation of the skin and the inability to see as clearly as he would be if it were the less drastically bright twilight hours. There was nothing that the young spinosaur could do about the sun, however, so he spent most of his uneventful day in the shade of the trees, cycads, and ferns, waiting for his mother to come back with food in tow, and watching his smaller, more sun-resistant siblings, the female Darkscale and the male Moon, playfully snap at one another with their crocodilian, highly skin-wrapped snouts.

A dark-scaled theropod stepped out of the dense foliage, the limp form of a small, feathery creature swinging by its tail from her toothy jaw. Mother had returned, with a rather small catch, that was not nearly large enough to feed her. It was, however, large enough for the _Baryonyx_ triplets to eat. Palescale, his brother, and his sister glared at the strange animal as it was carefully placed on the ground, as if Mother was trying to keep the body clear of cuts or scrapes. As the three juveniles went to investigate the fallen maniraptoran, the feathery being jolted its head from its previous comatose state. Mother had brought back a live animal! The giant spinosaurid faced towards her offspring, and motioned her head and jaws as if she was biting and thrashing at prey. She had brought back a live _Archaeopteryx_ to test their hunting and killing skills.

Moon, being the most inquisitive of his clutch, was the first to test the waters with the strange prey item. Where were its scales? Why did it look so strange? What were the long, blue things poking out of its arms? The young dinosaur's mind was filled with questions. His head cocked and bobbed quizzically, as the panicked archaeopterygid squawked in fear, its tail being held down by Mother, disallowing it to escape. Palescale and his dark-scaled sister began to inspect the terrified bird as well, just as curious and confused as their crescent-chested brother. Their mother made the same biting and thrashing motion as she had earlier. Palescale was the first to bother following his mother's instructions, and snapping his jaws open, aimlessly thrusting his maw at the bird's flank. The _Archaeopteryx_ let out a harsh screech of pain, as Mother let go of the animal's tail, motioning Moon and Darkscale to follow their brother suit. The two dark-pelted _Baryonyx_ kids charged the flightless bird, Palescale whacking his open jaws repeatedly at the fleeing creature's bloodied flank when the creature drew too close. His siblings pounced, but, in the commotion, the albino lost focus of the hunt, allowing the terrified bird to try to bound away; though its escape was ultimately cut short as Mother's massive jaws clamped down on the maniraptoran, swiftly ending the failed hunt of her young ones. Though disappointed in her kids, she did consider that this was their first ever attempt at making a hunt, and Palescale seemed to be very eager to try and kill his target. She had high hopes for the clutch, even if their first attempts at a hunt weren't particularly successful.

Mother put down the corpse of the bird. She motioned at the soft belly of the fallen avian dinosaur, encouraging her children to begin eating there. Palescale, being the hungriest of the trio, quickly began to eat, and he quickly learned that, inside of animals, there was a lot of red stuff; it was even better than the meat globs he had grown accustomed too! If he, his brother, and his sister went after live prey more often, they could eat without relying on their mother! What a novel concept! Palescale should have hunted more often.

But, for the time being, the sun was lower in the sky, and his skin far less irritated. Mother laid down, curling around a tall tree, as Palescale's siblings nestled themselves in the warmth of her arms. The white _Baryonyx_ started towards his family, and laid down next to his mother's warm chest, alongside his two subordinates. Tomorrow would hopefully bring new adventures to Dinosaur World, to teach Palescale, Moon, and Darkscale how to survive in the land under the ice.


	3. Of Dreams and Tyrannosaurs

_**Ice Age**_ © **Blue Sky**

Elsewhere in the underground world, at the base of the volcanic region known as Lava Falls, a red mother _Tyrannosaurus rex_ tended to her single chick; orange and dull red in color, with yellow eyes and dull, reptilian scutes running down the length of her back. Her name was "Sneertooth", alluding to sarcastic, toothy look she had a habit of shooting her mother, "Redmom" when displeased. She had been out in the world for about four months, and she, unlike Palescale and his family of the Dinosaur Vista region of the lost world, had to mature at a much quicker pace due to their more aggressive nature; by three months old, Sneertooth had already been weaned off of her mother's regurgitations in favor of whole carcasses, and was quite a competent hunter for a chick. A large dragonfly, about the size of the young one's head, buzzed past the _T. rex_ family. Her attention switching to the intruding insect, Sneertooth pursued the dragonfly, attempting to back it into a corner. The young tyrannosaur, however, had not considered that her agile target could simply fly away from its attacker, far away from striking range. Sneertooth let out an agitated call, scraping her large, clawed feet along the ground in frustration.

Redmom took note of her child's reaction to failing to catch prey, and used her tail to whack a rock at an unfortunate _Pteranodon_ 's gape, sending the remains of a bug-eyed piranha down to the rocky floor and leaving the pterosaur without its meal. Though _Tyrannosaurus_ was not normally a fish-eating dinosaur, food was rather hard to come by at Lava Falls, and what dinosaurs that would usually hunt big game were not beyond resorting to piscivory under harsh conditions. Sneertooth downed the small creature, and plopped down next to her giant mother.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the base of the Dinosaur Vista, fog began to form in the underground atmosphere, eventually giving way to precipitation not unlike that found in the world above. It was around three weeks since the _Baryonyx_ trio embarked on their first training hunt, in which they had lost their target, and Mother had to finish the job so the kids could eat. For now, however, most of the family was resting. The sun had set, and Mother had her tail wrapped around Moon and Darkscale, who had fallen asleep.

Palescale, however, was up and about, wandering the dark, rainy jungle. Twilight, early nighttime, and the wee hours of morning were his favorite times of day, when he was capable of roaming his mother's territory without his skin disagreeing with him being out in the wake of the sun. He readied himself for his eventual slumber, as he calmed himself with the calls of _Quetzalcoatlus_ sounding in the distance. He would occasionally try to hone his hunting skills by going out and attacking creatures such as lizards and arthropods, though to no avail at the moment. He eventually headed back to his mother, nestling himself beside his two siblings and drifting into the dream world.

The dreams of a dinosaur were not particularly different from the dreams of a human, though the dreams were often different in tone. Palescale, for example, would often dream of seeing bright colors drift by; shapes he had seen or simply caught glimpses of would come into play in their nonsensical "plots". Some of the dreams were pleasant; containing aspects of succeeding in a hunt, or exploring the world. However, not all dreams were nice; nightmares were still apparent, with dreams involving being chased by an angry _Triceratops_ or being lost in a strange place without any way of escaping also making their way into the stories conjured up by the brain of the young theropod.

On rare occasions, however, dreams could predict events that would happen in the future, either loosely or near-precisely.

A few hours after heading to sleep, Palescale woke up in the middle of the night. It was raining, and his family was nowhere in sight; he did not even appear to be in his mother's territory anymore. He had awoken prematurely, likely due to a disturbance in the dead of night forcing him to wake. The young albino attempted to drift back to sleep. An odd sound, akin to the breathing of a small animal rang through the _Baryonyx_ 's earholes. His eye jolted open once more, to the sight of a rather scrawny, fuzzy biped standing in front of his eye. Palescale focused his massive pupil on the strange creature, provoking a fearful reaction. It began to walk backwards, spouting vocalizations in a language he was incapable of of comprehending. Palescale's stomach growled. He hadn't eaten anything since mother had caught them a pachycephalosaur a few nights prior, so he swiped at the fuzzy thing, sending it reeling backwards, the creature's right eyeball thrusting downwards from its socket and onto the damp ground. The creature fell into the mud, its paw clasped over where it once sported an eye. The odd animal glanced at Palescale; who had not given the poor thing a pleasant first impression. It darted for the trees, climbing the tallest it could find, wrapping a makeshift eyepatch around its emptied socket as Palescale pursued. The creature looked around fearfully. Ominous lumps formed in the never-ending fog. Finally, the theropod leaped from the sea of white, cloaked in a wreath of clouds, his target only managing to wield a flimsy branch as Palescale's jaws clamped down on his meal.

"AAAAAGH!" the doomed animal cried out, in a language all creatures could understand. Fear. Shock. Agony...

...

...a harsh, stinging pain shot through Palescale's jaws. Everything faded to a dim orange, as a bellow of pain erupted from the _Baryonyx_.

* * *

Palescale awoke with a start. He was still nestled between Darkscale and Moon, wrapped in the tail of his protective mother. Whatever he had done was only a dream. Mother rose her head to greet the sun, barely peering through the icy ceiling to mark the beginning of a new day, and let out a call to awaken her children. Today, she would take her children beyond her territory, and let them see the world beyond the canopy of the only place they knew.

Out near the open plains of Dinosaur Vista, the giant _Baryonyx_ mother, alongside Palescale, Moon, and Darkscale, wandered about, glancing at their surroundings. The young ones were awestruck; who knew that the world extended beyond their mother's territory and the surrounding forest? Darkscale in particular was the most eager to explore the area, being the adventurous to Palescale's aggressive and Moon's inquisitive. Mother, however, made sure that all of her chicks stayed within the reach of her jaws and tail, in the event they made an attempt to break away from her watchful eye, and into the dangerous world. She wasn't going to risk losing the clutch, like her prior attempts at rearing children, which had ended in an ovivorous pterodactyl having eggs for supper and a _Tyrannosaurus_ snacking on juvenile spinosaurids respectively. The underground world was a harsh mistress, just as eager to take away life as it was to give. She had to be vigilant if she wanted to keep her current batch of dino-babies.

A grunt echoed across the plains. Mother's head jerked to the direction the sound blared from, and her eyes locked on an _Iguanodon_. It appeared to had broken one of its hind legs, as it had a notable limp when it tried to walk. With this in mind, Mother changed the trip's directive from 'walk around and look at the scenery' to 'catch something to eat'.

But, as fate would have it, Mother was not the only predator in the area, nor was she the only one setting sights on her prey of choice.

* * *

A large, red foot smashed through the underbrush, browsing kentrosaurs darting away in response. After months of rearing a child at Lava Falls, the time had come for Redmom to lead Sneertooth away from her hatching place. Sneertooth was growing too old to be supported by the miniscule rations provided by the scant ecosystem of the volcanic plain, and Redmom had lost nearly a tenth of her body weight in her time spent in at Lava Falls, and was in need of food to resupply her strength to live another day. The variable paradise at the base of the Vista and the surrounding forest was one of the best places in the whole cavern for the small family, with plentiful game and little competition.

Trundling through the foliage, the mother _Tyrannosaurus_ halted, having spotted an iguanodont separated from its herd. Ones of its legs appeared to have been broken, rendering the blue ornithopod lame. An injured herbivore made for a perfect bounty for a hungry predator.

The giant tyrannosaur went into a crouching stance. She put lowered her hand on Sneertooth's head, motioning her to assume the same posture. Redmom inched towards her target, and the younger _T. rex_ followed, unsure as to what her mother was doing.

* * *

On the opposite side of the field, a mother _Baryonyx_ targeted the same injured creature. She ordered her children to stand on the outskirts of the plain and simply watch her make the kill. She crouched, and started towards her target, trying her best not to make any sounds as she crept across the ground.

The very second after she finally lunged to make the kill, however, a huge creature, only marginally smaller than herself, bursted from the foliage, massive teeth glaring in the sunlight that angled through the icy ceiling. The two behemoths slammed into each other, as their startled bodies fell atop their shared bounty, quickly offing the unfortunate iguanodont. After recovering from the impact, the two theropods backed up, exchanging silent, deadly glares. Though they may have not had the capacity for proper speech, the mere look in their eyes conveyed their identical thoughts on what was happening.

 _'This is my kill. Leave.'_

The children of the two parties trotted over to the scene, investigating one another as their parents stood their ground against one another. There was no apparent animosity in the two groups, unlike the adults. They sniffed one another. Moon in particular was the most open to Sneertooth's appearance, offering that he and the rest of the _Baryonyx_ hatchlings play with the tyrannosaur. With this, the children frolicked momentarily, until a thunderous roar sounded throughout the area, the source of the bellow mere feet from where the children played. Redmom had grown tired of the standoff, and bluntly attempted to get Mother and the rest of the spinosaurids out of the area so she and her daughter could eat.

The _Tyrannosaurus_ shoved her adversary, attempting to get her away from the corpse. The _Baryonyx_ countered with her own shove, pushing the smaller predator off of her feet and onto her side. Redmom rolled back onto her feet, and lifted herself off the ground, as Mother latched her jaws onto the back of the red tyrannosaur, who jerked her body away from the spinosaur's grip. The smaller dinosaur roughly swatted her massive skull into that of Mother's, sending the _Baryonyx_ reeling backwards. She let out a final, enormous bellow, which was the signal for Mother to gather her children and head back to the Vista; though not before taking a piece of the _Iguanodon_ 's tail with her. As they headed back home, Redmom mock charged the retreating group, making sure they didn't come back for the remainder of the day. With this, she headed back to the form of the ornithopod, and had dinner with Sneertooth, who, despite briefly bonding with the children of her mother's adversary, did not appear to have remembered much of what had just happened.

* * *

As the _Baryonyx_ party trudged through the jungle to get back to the Vista, the albino spinosaurid growled in frustration. Had the younger tyrannosaur been a distraction? What would have happened if they continued to play? Would they have been eaten by the bigger _T. rex_? Would the young Rex have killed them herself?

A flurry of anti-Sneertooth and Redmom thoughts flooded the spinosaur's head, culminating in the juvenile angrily thrashing his jaws at an unwitting dragonfly.

The insect let out a small squeak as the head of the much larger dinosaur bashed into its body, which promptly fell to the floor of the jungle, dead.

Mother looked upon the what her son had done, dumbfounded. Without any strategy, and with barely any effort, Palescale had finally managed to make a kill. Considering he had finally done what she had been hoping for him to do since she had first introduced them to the concept of taking out their own prey. She didn't have many other choices than to praise Palescale for his long-awaited success, licking the white scales on his forehead and rubbing her snout against him. After the congratulations, Mother and the young ones headed back to their nest. The great female curled her tail around her body, and motioned her children to come and rest. The sun was starting to set, the day's last rays of light angling through the forest canopy.

But, with the dawning of twilight, Palescale was up and about. Despite the general lack of eventfulness in the last few weeks, today had been quite notable; his mother took him to the plains, he encountered a few tyrannosaurs, and, most notably, he had made his very first kill.

Straying from his usual routine of gazing at the icy ceiling and listening to the calls of pterosaurs, Palescale went off into the ferns. He spotted an _Archaeopteryx_ snoozing on a low-lying branch, completely vulnerable to attack. He lowered his stance, mimicking the stance Mother had taken while hunting the _Iguanodon_ earlier in the day, and crept towards the hapless bird.

And, with a pounce and a violent thrash, the albino _Baryonyx_ chick had earned himself a spot on the food chain.


End file.
